Beal’s status with the franchise seemed to shift the moment Washington hired Michael Winger to be the Wizards’ chief executive in late May and team owner Ted Leonsis empowered the former Clippers general manager to reshape this Washington roster however Winger sees fit — even if that includes a rebuild.
Miami has always been the franchise most often mentioned by league personnel as a Beal suitor. The Heat are perpetually positioning themselves to make a run at the next available star, whether it was Donovan Mitchell last summer or contacting Brooklyn about Kyrie Irving before February’s trade deadline, sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports.
Wishful executives will keep their eyes peeled on Portland and Damian Lillard, but it’s the Chicago Bulls who have started contacting teams, quietly gauging the trade interest in Zach LaVine, league sources told Yahoo Sports. It remains to be seen just how willing Chicago is to part ways with LaVine, or if it receives a commensurate offer for his services.
Harden’s other potential free-agent outcome still stands to be rejoining the Rockets, although it’s hard to trace a straight line through all the forecasts of Houston’s offseason plans. There is one common denominator among the Rockets’ long list of summer goals: spend money, acquire talent and compete for the postseason under the guidelines from owner Tilman Fertitta. Rumored free-agent targets such as Lopez, Dillon Brooks and a long list of wings would seemingly slot well next to Harden.
Charlotte could feasibly trade the pick, but the Hornets appear deep in internal deliberations between Henderson and Miller. There has been plenty of buzz about New Orleans and Toronto, in addition to Houston, registering interest in jumping up the draft board. The Pelicans are indeed quite high on Henderson, sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports.